Shadows of the Past
by BITBIT
Summary: Minerva McGonagall is a rich young woman unhappily married in high society, she finds love in exactly the opposite of what she is looking for,
1. Chapter 1

Shadows of the Past: Chapter 1: Swear Not to the Moon

The sun was falling swiftly, but there was still well over an hour before it would be setting. The frost covered ground below now gave a little more warmth than the weak sun above. It was the tail of yet another long day.

Minerva McGonagall cast a weary eye over the grounds of the McGonagall Manor. Grounds that rolled on into pastures and then into the tenant's farms and continued into more of nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

"Oh do hurry up, Mave before I grow old an die." She barked harshly at the childlike maid who had been laden with the task of dressing the young woman. "Honestly, if I did not know better I would think Daddy had hired you off the streets. Do you servants have no respect for time?"

The maid scurried back. She was a frightfully skinny thing and not a very handsome one at that. Minerva believed her to be not older than fourteen, certainly cast out by her parents with no financial means. Minerva regarded this sourly, what a pity to be poor. She simply could not think of a worse fate to face than to look poverty in the eyes but the McGonagall's had always been wealthy and it was likely that even her great grandchildren would be squandering riches. Money was really the only thing she had in her favor at the current time.

"I'm sorry, Miss. Minerva. I was only trying to-" The maid stopped short at a rather scathing look, "Will that be all?"

Her eyes moved heavenwards and she opened her mouth for a nasty reply but was interrupted by a deep voice at the door.

"Yes, Mave that will be all."

Minerva's husband, Trenton Randolphus, was a tall man with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes to match. Although she would never admit it, his looks had initially intrigued her but her interest had quickly fallen away as his personality emerged and still, somehow, some way, between her mother's coaxing and Minerva's own loneliness, they had come to be married.

Mave curtsied and brushed by the man, blushing profusely when his hand quickly caressed her smooth cheek. Minerva rolled her eyes once more. Trenton had wandering eyes and his eyes were not the only thing that wandered. They had been married less than a year when she finally decided that he would never be able to be faithful. She was naive when she married him, she was a different person and Minerva could not be certain wether she had him or herself more.

He leaned against the doorway, picking his nails which was yet another habit that Minerva detested. Just his presence made her uncomfortable.

"I really wish you wouldn't order _my_ maid around, Trenton. I believe that is my role as her lady."

"It shall not be your role for long, my dear. It's 1948 for Merlin's sake and you're a witch- I'm afraid maids have gone out of style." He pushed off the doorway, moving closer to the vanity. "Not that you should mind, after all you do hate that one."

Minerva dabbed flora scented perfume on her neck, her eyes not daring to meet his on the glowing glass of the mirror. "Why shouldn't I? She fucks my husband every night."

Trenton let out a short laugh. He had a way of brushing off uncomfortable topics and handling awkward situations smoothly which aided him greatly in his profession as the Minister of Magic's very first adviser, "The minister requires that I meet him in London tomorrow. I'll be gone for the remainder of the weekend, as well as next week. I won't be able to go back and forth, you know how apperating tires me out."

"I can think of many things that might tire you out while in London but apperation is not one of them." Minerva managed the courage to look him in the eye. "Tell me, is it a whore or another mans wife this time? Will you be fathering a third bastard child?"

She could see he had clenched his jaw, if there was one thing she admired about him, besides his looks was his ability to control his temper, a noble reserve that she had yet to master. "My dear Minerva, we shall find out."

"So we shall." She angrily pulled a perfect string if pearls from around her neck and threw them across the room. "Tell Daddy I went for a walk. Suddenly I'm not not hungry."

Minerva jerked her heavy winter coat from an impressive oak wardrobe and wrapped herself in it ignoring his bow as she stormed by down into a dim hallway and out into the cool November air. Her footsteps came quickly, disturbing the layer of pure frost and her breath lingered in the air. Minerva's mind was a flurry of thoughts that seemed to switch back and forth so that she could never quite get a hold of one and she finally stopped to catch her breath, only then, when she could barely see the glowing light of an attic room over the tree tops, did she realize just how far she had ventured into the estate.

Minerva looked around, she was surrounded by trees and that was about it. She knew that if she went further there would most likely be farmland but she could not quite be sure. As a young girl she had played on the grounds but never was allowed to go past the Loch which she had so easily past moments ago and now she stood, alone, on land she had never seen at her own home.

She lent heavily on the rough trunk of a tree and wept, sliding down to the ground, wrapping her arms around her knees to comfort herself. She had learned to be her own best friend since she had gotten married and this was a time when she needed her. Hot tears streamed down her cheeks, laced with anger and self pity that came in abundance and for a long while.

"Miss?"

Miniver jumped fiercely, fighting to urge to whip out her wand, and looked up.

"Miss, are you alright?"

She would not need to curse him, he was a young man, around her age who was carrying fire wood on his back and an extremely worried expression on his face.

Minerva swiped at the remaining tears, swaying and finding her balance as she stood, "Yes. I'm fine, thank you."

He studied her for a moment, obviously taking in her fur coat and pearl earrings before his eyes lit up. "You're Minerva McGonagall or Randolphus, I should say, aye? The preacher's daughter."

"Yes."

The man he studied her again and finally whistled, a handsome trace of a smile coming to his lips.

"What?"

"Oh nothing, it's just that I've never seen ya before and I've lived here me whole life." He hunched his back and donned a particularly unattractive expression. "I figured ya ha' to be a hag or somethin'."

Despite herself, Minerva laughed. "Well, I certainly hope not. To be a hag seems an awful fate. Thank you- for caring to stop that is. I've had no such kindness from a man in a long while."

"Then ya've been cheated, milady. If I had a lass like ya, I'd-" He stopped, drawing back a bit, "I shouldn't say, it may be out of turn."

"Then speak out of turn, sir, I won't object to flattery."

He smiled, "Well I'd- I'd go to that hill top just there. Ya see it? And I'd get a horn, like in the picture shows, and I'd do me Scottish jig, and I'd tell it to the great, big, wide world. That I had a lass named Minerva-?"

"Geraldine."

"That I had a lass named Minerva Geraldine and I swear to the moon that she would forever hold me heart."

"You shouldn't swear to the moon, but to the sun, for it is much warmer and useful." Minerva laughed again, suddenly enthralled by this man, this little muggle man. "You're quite the romantic, then."

"Aye, miss, I am."

"Well what's your name, Mr. Romantic? Shall I call you Romeo?"

"Ya could but it's only Dougal, Dougal McGregor, miss."

_A/N: I might just make this a one shot but if you all like it I may go further. I plan to eventually hey Minerva and Albus together if I keep going but I thought this was a cute idea so yeah.__** Please review**_.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Don't own anything

Shadows of the Past: Chapter Two: Love and Lust

Minerva and Poppy burst through her bedroom door in a fit of laughter. They both flopped onto Minerva's four poster bed and rolled around hysterically for a few moments, calming down slightly only dissolving again when one said, "Did you see the look on her face?" and then the other mocked the shock of the woman.

"I never thought your mother could be quite so entertaining, Min." Poppy finally managed, rolling onto her back. "I surely won't be invited again."

Minerva chuckled, "It doesn't matter. Soon enough you'll be Poppy Pomfrey with that darling little cottage in Hogsemade and I'll visit you there." She sighed and threw an arm over Poppy's shoulder. "Are you absolutely getting married tomorrow?"

"Positively, but I'm not going away after it like you did. St. Mungos certainly will not have it." She smiled but then turned so that she and Minerva were laying face to face. "I am happy, Minerva. He has little wallet but a big heart and I love him, I love him without a second thought which is more than I can say for you."

She closed her eyes. Knowing her friend was right did not make what she was saying any easier to hear. "You don't think much of Trenton."

"Why should I? He is a bad man with even worse intentions who does not deserve you and it cost me nothing to say so." Her voice became sharp and shrill. "Besides he's not the one who has made you so giddy lately, is he now?" Poppy raised her eyebrows in a knowing manner.

Minerva sat up defensively. "I don't know _what_ you mean."

"I think you do. I've always been good at reading people, you know that and Minerva McGonagall is _impossibly_ easy to read." She stood and began to flaunt around the room. "Is it another ministry man? No? Oh, it's that transfiguration teacher, Dumbledore, yes?"

Minerva shook her head. She had no business keeping such a secret from her best friend and as Poppy was going to get it out of her one way or the other she figured she ought to play along. "You'll never guess."

"A curse breaker? Another aristocrat?"

"No."

"Is he a butcher, baker, candlestick maker?"

Minerva smiled. "You're on the right track."

Poppy stopped, her eyes went wide. "No!" She shrieked disbelievingly. "Minerva, a muggle? He is not a bloody _muggle!"_

"That's entirely what he is." She smiled to herself, recalling the three glorious months she had known Dougal. They had learned so much about each other is so little time and shared such good, happy times that she had began to wonder if this was what love felt like and if it was, could it even be possible for two people to fall into it so quickly. "I think I love him, Poppy."

"You think?"

"Well I certainly don't know, I've never felt it before and it's all moved so quickly." She said shortly. "What does it feel like?"

The other woman huffed, "What kind of question is that?" She sighed but scanned the celling looking for the words to describe such a feeling. "Well, it's- um- it's like standing outside in the middle of winter, there's snow on the ground, in the sky and you don't have coat but you're not cold, the heat is coming from the inside out. And when you wake up in the morning the first thing you think of is his name. You wonder what he's up to all day, if he's thinking of you. You'd do anything to make him happy even of it hurt yourself and when you go to bed at night the last thought you have is of him."

She smiled again. "Very poetic."

"Even so, there is a difference between love and lust. Am I looking at an adulteress, Min?"

Minerva thought for a moment. She wouldn't consider herself an adulteress in the physical sense, she had McGregor had not even kissed, actually she had pecked him on the cheek once but that hardly meant anything, but if thoughts and wishes were a risky act she'd have to paint a very large A on her dress. Minerva longed to touch him, to kiss him, to feel closer to him than she had to anyone else before. She loved Gregor McDougal, now she knew for certain and she would act on it as soon as possible.

Something swelled inside of her, a realization, an awakening. Her heart began to beat at an unprecedented pace and her palms became sweaty but it was not at all unpleasant. It was calling, she needed to tell him, to show him.

Minerva stood, summoning her coat and pulling it on quickly. "You're about to be, Poppy. I know I love him."

* * *

It was raining as Minerva hurried down the slopes of the estate and it was cold but still she felt warm. The journey down to his little house always seemed unbearably long and the walk back unbearably short but this particular afternoon she was floating and she certainly had no need for time.

Dougal answered the excited knock on the door with a confused air.

"Minerva? What in- just come in, come in. Yer soaking wet!"

"I know!" She laughed, "I know Greg but I just couldn't wait." He pushed the door closed against the harsh February wind. "I love you, Dougal McGregor. I know it's mad but, I love you."

The man before her stared blankly and for a moment Minerva thought he might send her away but soon enough he broke out into that handsome grin of his, "I love ya, too."

"Oh good." Her voice was laced with a hint of relief and she lunged forward to kiss him passionately on the lips.

They pulled away breathlessly. "But- but Minerva yer married. I-I don't have anything to offer you"

"Shhh." She shook her head and took him by the shoulders. "I don't care. Now take me to bed McGregor."

"Really?" He breathed.

Minerva nodded. "I want to. I've wanted to."

Dougal found it hard to hide his delight as he lifted his mistress off the ground and into his strong arms. "Yer so beautiful. I love ya. I didn't know I could love ya so much, Min."

* * *

_**A/N: Corny, I know but I obviously don't know how to write a love story and I obviously can't finish anything so... I don't know if I'll update again, this was kind of random but thanks for reading and please review. **_


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